Blog

This blog traces my influences, studio practice, learning, and teaching of art.

"The Goddess Of Wisdom"

This view of ancient Athens was painted from an old German engraving. I added the dawn/ sunset atmosphere with Pegasus, and Athena. She holds a vase of olive oil and an olive branch. I will be showing it along with a few others at C.W.R.U. My design class will also be showing some Aeneid themed works. The classics department is hosting an all day, 12 hour reading of Virgil's Aeneid: April 2nd 8:30 AM-8:30 PM, Sages Cafe, Crawford Hall.


"The Double Twist Of Death"


I painted this at the Edward Albee Foundation, in Montauk, N.Y. in 1979. It was quite an experience being there. It is a summer workshop in a barn. I had a huge studio. There were two painters, and three writers there. One of the writers was James Lapine, who has come to great success: "Sunday In The Park With George" was written by him. Nogouchi dropped by one day wearing shorts and flip-flops...and I had dinner in Mr. Albee's famous mirrored dinning room. Excuse me for the poor quality of the picture: It's from an old slide.

"Toys Of The Dark Ages"


In 1995 I bought these very realistic plastic toys for one dollar each in the inner city neighborhood where my studio was located. Before painting the guns, I easily removed the orange plastic tips with pliers. These tips were presumably added to distinguish the toys from real guns. How can we expect our children to resolve conflict in a safe and sane way when this is what they play with? Around the same time a youth was shot and killed by police who thought his toy gun was real.

"Temple Of Good Harvests"


After hearing that the gold Buddhas were being destroyed and melted down, I added one to my depiction of the temple. I used a photo of a friend as a model for the figure and painted her in a period costume. Some think the Buddha shouldn't be there. I have been trying to find out if Buddha has ever been there. The painting has been reproduced as an offset lithograph, S&N, 15"x22" image. I would like to donate some of the proceeds to a Tibetan humanitarian group.

"Gypsy"

Everything except the horn was painted from life. That is the old Bendix radio from Grandmother's house.
Some of my father's old sheet music was the inspiration for this painting. He wanted to sing professionally but met my mother and became an optometrist.

"Dancing In The Mirror"


This painting was formerly titled "Dancing In The Light".
I explored the idea of the cartoon reflections streaming across
the mirror and becoming some thing more. I like the idea of using cartoon graphics as symbols. I had been heavily into yoga and meditation. Spending time at Swami Satchidananda's ashram in Yogaville, Virginia was a joy and a healing respite from my difficult NYC life. The light streaks become the rays become the chakras.

"Dancers With Mirrors"


I lived in a ground floor NYC loft on Spring Street between Mott and Elizabeth in 1980. The area is now known as NOLITA. My roommate was John Juel, a dancer with the Elio Pomare Dance Co.. Elio is depicted wearing gold and playing a tamborine. The picture plane seems to swing back on the right. The canvas is shaped in the form of a trapezoid. Other trapezoids are formed through the composition of the figures.